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26 November 2014, Gateway House

PSAARC: humanism over nationalism?

Parallel to the official SAARC meeting was the People's SAARC in Kathmandu. Comprising NGOs, civil society leaders, and activists, the PSAARC is a platform that rejects narrow nationalism and religion in favour of a transcendent South Asian identity

former Gandhi Peace Fellow

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On the eve of the SAARC summit in Kathmandu, while heads of government were navigating the formalities of bilateral meetings, in another part of the city, delegates of People’s SAARC were enjoying a simple meal amid laughter and bonhomie.

Differences between the official SAARC summit and the ‘People’s’ version are clear enough. Where one is controlled by protocol and security, the other was festive like a mela, a fair. At the official summit lies formal power. At PSAARC were citizens who challenge their governments to actually deliver on all the promises about inclusive prosperity and social justice.

However, both platforms are almost equally fraught with problems. While the challenges of the official SAARC are well documented, both the limitations and promise of PSAARC need to be understood more closely.

It is easy enough for activists on the PSAARC platform to call for a rejection of patriotism in favour of a transcendent South Asian identity – one that is based on dignity for all, not religious or ethnic identity. But is there agreement on this approach among the citizens of SAARC nations?

Geo-political experts and activists are clear that there are only South Asian solutions to most of our problems. But the bulk of people in this region probably don’t share this conviction because most issues are viewed only at the local or national level.

PSAARC’s declaration, issued at the close of that gathering on November 24, calls for creating a regional process for amicably resolving border disputes. However any meaningful resolution would require active acceptance by citizens on both sides of every dispute. In its present form, as a lose network of NGOs and political activists, PSAARC lacks the wherewithal to mobilize mass support for radical solutions that ask people to transcend nationalism in favour of humanism.

Even the bonhomie of PSAARC cannot mask how much it mirrors the official entity in some areas. For instance, activists from other SAARC nations did not hesitate to express their dismay over how the bitterness between India and Pakistan is a spoiler, hampering the whole region.

Even the Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy, a citizens’ initiative that has been around since the 1990s, has not met regularly over the last few years – partly because getting visas has been extremely difficult at both ends.

Karamat Ali, a leader of the Pakistan Civil Society Forum, expressed a sense of frustration that activists on both sides have not been able to mobilize popular pressure to demand implementation of agreements made by SAARC countries to combat terrorism. If we had succeeded in this, Ali said, the terrorist strike on Mumbai, in November 2008, could not have happened.

In addition, liberal and secular activists who gathered at PSAARC are worried that hatred and aggression are being systematically promoted in both India and Pakistan.

The foundation of the PSAARC process is the faith that the majority of people in this region are inclined to reject hate-generating propaganda. So while there are concerns about the effectiveness of PSAARC, there are no doubts about the importance of such heart-to-heart gatherings of people who are divided by borders.

Maria Karimzad, legal advisor to the director general of regional cooperation in the foreign ministry of Afghanistan, attended PSAARC for the first time and went away enthused. “If we are strong in civil society and we trust each other, that will be a signal for the political system,” said Karimzad. “In time PSAARC will raise awareness of governments and it will make a difference. We should not rush, it must be organic. For example in Afghanistan we are not ready for full rights for women but we are building awareness.”

Ashim Roy, a trade union leader from Ahmedabad and a member of the steering group of PSAARC, is confident that in India the process of building a south Asian perspective on many issues is proceeding well. For example, there is now a good SAARC-level working group of activists engaged in protecting water as a commons – as opposed to water being increasingly privatised and beyond the reach of the poor. This is a vital initiative, since many geo-political analysts have predicted that future regional wars could be over water resources.

The PSAARC perspective will inevitably focus on the rights of local communities – both to natural resources and economic opportunities. For instance, there is a nascent cross-border mobilisation to jointly oppose the negative impacts of hydro-projects on both the Himalayan eco systems and people.

If the official SAARC platform rejects these protests as obstructionist, it will undermine the process of deepening democracy across the region. So far, it has not done so. At the same time, the challenge before PSAARC is to frame the localised protests in ways that win compromise solutions from both industry and governments. This common ground, among NGOs and activists, on the basics of life and livelihood, may the strongest antidote to long-standing historical disputes of the region that are rooted in identity and religion.

Rajni Bakshi is the Gandhi Peace Fellow at Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations.

This article was exclusively written for Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations. You can read more exclusive content here.

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